Chemicals & Chemistry

It is phthalates, a group of chemicals that are used to soften plastic. These chemicals are one of the most studied groups of chemicals in use today.

This week "Dr. Joe" Schwarcz takes a look (a sniff, really) at the chemistry of why books have their distinctive smell. The answer is (of course) that books of different eras were made from different materials.

 

By Susan Goldhaber This article was originally published on the website of the Toxicology Education Foundation.

A recent CNN article about the FDA oversight of chemicals in foods is puzzling.  Author Sandee LaMotte regurgitates a ludicrous demand by t

In the mood for some hilarity? I am. A new press release from the Silent Spring Institute (SSI) makes me wonder whether they've jumped the gun on April Fool's Day. Don't believe me?

In 2016 I wrote about a group at the Kyoto Institute of Technology in Japan that 

As if we don't have enough to worry about.

There are so many chemicals accused of causing human cancers that it's a wonder that any of us are still breathing. Yet, we are. In fact, since 1975 rates of most cancers have been either steady or slowly declining (Figure 1).

It would seem that Russia lags a bit behind much of the world in the free speech department. Alexei Navalny, a Russian anti-corruption activist and well-known critic of President Vladimir Putin is being treated in Germany for an apparent